Day 3 of our Costa Rica

Good morning, and welcome to Day 3 of our Costa Rican honeymoon adventure...

We woke up to more rain and more clouds, but it's still probably 25°C outside, so it feels pretty nice...

Not sure how these tan lines are going to happen this summer if it rains for 49 days straight, but we shall see.

Today we headed to the Mystic Bridges.

Hiking boots on, raincoats and umbrellas packed.

I literally live in flip-flops, but I have a smart husband, and he "gently" persuaded me to pack my hiking boots. I'm so glad we did because they definitely came in handy today.

The Mystic Bridges actually refers to Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park, a world-renowned ecotourism reserve located near La Fortuna.

The park is tucked into a lush rainforest at the base of the Arenal Volcano and gives visitors the opportunity to walk through the jungle canopy via a series of suspended bridges. It is one of the few places where you can experience the rainforest from multiple levels—from the forest floor all the way up to the treetops where many animals spend their entire lives.

A little information for you if you plan on visiting...

The trail is approximately 3.2 km long and features 16 bridges in total, including six massive hanging suspension bridges. Some of these bridges stretch more than 300 feet in length and hang up to 148 feet above the canyon floor.

When I tell you the views from some of these bridges are phenomenal... my words do not do them justice.

Standing above the rainforest canopy, surrounded by endless shades of green, mist rolling through the trees, and glimpses of the volcano in the distance, felt like something out of a movie.

We chose to do a self-guided pass, and I believe we paid about $32 USD.

We did see some guided tours along the way, and we would occasionally sneak in beside the groups to see what they were pointing at because those guides can spot the tiniest little frogs and creatures that you can basically only see with binoculars.

Honestly, it's impressive.

They seem to know exactly where everything is hiding, so a guide probably would've been a smart choice, but we also enjoy exploring at our own pace.

We brought water with us, but there is absolutely no food or snacks allowed on the trail.

Throughout the walk we saw little red and blue frogs, beautiful tropical birds, waterfalls, and even a few howler monkeys.

But the strangest thing we experienced wasn't something we saw—it was something we heard.

Everywhere we went, there was this unbelievably loud sound.

We heard it on the trails.

We heard it while driving.

If the windows were down, we heard it.

At first, we were convinced it had to be some kind of bird.

The sound was so loud it was as if hundreds of them were perched in the trees with microphones and the world's best sound system.

But no matter how hard we looked, we couldn't find a single bird making the noise.

We would walk through the forest and everything would suddenly become completely silent.

It felt magical.

Then, little by little, the sound would start up again, growing louder and louder until you felt like you were standing right inside it.

It took us days to figure out what was making all that noise.

And despite all the evidence, I still swore it had to be some giant angry bird.

Spoiler alert—it wasn't.

It was cicadas.

Tiny little insects creating one of the loudest sounds I've ever heard in nature.

And here's the crazy part...

The males make that deafening sound to attract females, using special vibrating membranes on their bodies called tymbals. When thousands of them start singing at the same time, the noise can reach over 100 decibels—which is about as loud as a motorcycle or a rock concert.

What's even crazier is that cicadas spend the majority of their lives underground.

Depending on the species, they can live beneath the soil for anywhere from 2 to 17 years, feeding on nutrients from tree roots and basically living a secret underground life.

Then one day, they emerge, climb up a tree, shed their exoskeleton, spend a few weeks making as much noise as possible, find a mate, and complete their entire adult life cycle before disappearing again.

Honestly, after spending over a decade underground, I'd probably come out screaming too.

The suspension bridges themselves are a little nerve-racking if you have a fear of heights because you can see straight down below you through the bridge... and yes, they do move a little bit.

Not enough to be unsafe.

Just enough to make you question your life choices for a few seconds.

We were worried we weren't going to see much because the clouds were hanging so low and the humidity was through the roof.

But the park wasn't busy, and we never really had to wait for photos or fight crowds on the bridges..

As we continued walking, the clouds slowly began to clear.

The rainforest opened up around us, and suddenly we could see for miles.

The views just kept getting better and better.

Mystic Bridges gets a definite two thumbs up from us if you're planning a visit to La Fortuna.

Now let's talk about rain.

Back home, we think we get a lot of rain.

We don't.

We have never experienced rain like Costa Rican rain.

I think Costa Rica must have invented the words "torrential downpour" because when it rains here, it doesn't gradually start.

One second everything is fine.

The next second, the sky opens.

Throughout the trip we watched rivers of water suddenly flood yards, sidewalks, and roads within minutes.

Not puddles.

Rivers.

No wonder the roads take such a beating here.

The rain absolutely destroys them.

We'll talk about those roads another day...

But Day 3 was memorable and amazing and magical, and just like today...

Tomorrow, we still have nowhere to go, nowhere to be.

Deanna